


Someone to Listen (Someone to Trust)

by silverspecks



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Crimson Flower Route, F/M, Post Time Skip, Soft Beginnings of a Romance, That has been a long time coming, post A support, see end notes for details
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-16 08:29:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29573220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverspecks/pseuds/silverspecks
Summary: Dorothea is surprised with how much she wants him to start talking. She used to be annoyed with Ferdinand’s chatter, but now-well things have changed. She has changed. They have changed. The changes between them have been a long time coming, even before their conversation in the cathedral.It is a comforting thing now, to chat aimlessly with Ferdinand. It is one of the things she values about their friendship. It is one of the things she values about him.-0-Dorothea and Ferdinand have a conversation by firelight as their relationship continues to shift and grow.
Relationships: Ferdinand von Aegir/Dorothea Arnault
Comments: 6
Kudos: 25





	Someone to Listen (Someone to Trust)

Someone to Listen (Someone to Trust) 

Ferdinand is being uncharastically quiet. He is roasting some sausages for both of them on the fire that Petra had prepared. Petra and Caspar had gone off, with Petra trying to teach the boy how to hunt quietly-An impossible feat, Dorothea is sure. Lindhardt is asleep in his tent, because of course he is. This leaves Dorothea alone with Ferdinand, which has not since happened since she had told him the truth about her past, in all of it’s dreary details. 

There has been no time to sit and talk, and Dorothea-well Dorothea is not quite sure what to do with this boy, this man really, who looks at her like she might mean something. 

Dorothea had not wanted to go out searching for bandits, but once she heard that she would get to spend time with Ferdie-she had agreed to join, if only so they could finally talk.

Dorothea is surprised with how much she wants him to start talking. She used to be annoyed with Ferdinand’s chatter, but now-well things have changed. She has changed. They have changed. The changes between them have been a long time coming, even before their conversation in the cathedral. 

It is a comforting thing now, to chat aimlessly with Ferdinand. It is one of the things she values about their friendship. It is one of the things she values about him. 

She starts to hum without thinking. She wants noise right now, and if Ferdinand doesn’t feel like speaking she will provide music at the very least. 

“I am always struck by how beautiful you sound.” Ferdinand says, after letting Dorothea hum for a few minutes. 

“You finally speak.” 

He puts a hand in his hair and smiles at her. The smile is not quite as large as it usually is. “Yes, well there’s a lot on my mind, I’m afraid.” He tilts his head. “It seems your music has broken the spell of my silence.” 

From anyone else it would seem like a flirtation, but from Ferdinand, well-

He says it so earnestly. 

How had Dorothea not noticed how earnest and honest Ferdinand had been when she first met him at the academy? How could she think he had been like the others--full of pretty lies, and false promises? 

She had been blind by her own misplaced grudge, and in doing so she had missed out. 

Ferdinand had clearly carried a flame for her during their Academy Days. It is hard to believe that he still might-

Well Dorothea had been horribly cruel to him. He still cares for her, that much is obvious. And Dorothea isn’t sure-

Well, she isn’t sure how she feels anyway. Or at least she tells herself. She has felt a lot of different things about Ferdinand in their relationship, but now she feels comforted by his presence in a way that doesn’t feel strictly platonic. 

She smiles at him. “I’m only humming Ferdie.” 

“And yet it’s more beautiful than one hundred birds singing in harmony.” 

She giggles. She cannot help it. Ferdinand is ridiculous. “You flatter me too much.” She teases. It would be easy to continue the flirting, but there had to be a reason why Ferdie had been so quiet, and Dorothea wants to get to the bottom of it. “You seemed melancholy before.” 

He nods his head, and pulls the sausages from the fire. “They’re done.” He passes one to her, reaching over the fire to give it to her. 

“Be careful Ferdie, I wouldn’t want you to burn yourself.” She tells him. “You have already burned yourself trying to provide me with food once-we cannot let it become a habit.” 

“That was many years ago Dorothea.” He says. “But note, I would burn myself many times if it meant-” 

“Keeping me fed and happy.” She finishes for him. Ferdinand's responses have become predictable to her now, in a way that feels more comforting than annoying. “Ferdinand, you need to take care of yourself too.” 

“A proper noble should put other people first.” Ferdinand argues, looking away from her. 

“A proper noble cannot look out for his people, if he doesn’t look after himself.” Dorothea tells him. “After all-what would happen if you got so severely injured and they picked out an unworthy successor?” 

Ferdinand looks at her thoughtfully. “Do you think I’m worthy of my position Dorothea?” 

Dorothea sighs, but she nods her head anyway. “I think you are.” She stares down at her legs, and hopes that he cannot see through her. 

Ferdinand is better than most men in the past who held his position of Prime Minister. This Dorothea knows for certain. 

“I don’t think you would have felt that way when we were in school.” 

“I didn’t know as much as I know now.” Dorothea tells him. She didn’t know him. She didn’t let herself know him. 

Ferdinand clutches his chest. “Still, your approval of me in my position means-” He takes in a breath. “It means the world to me, Dorothea.” She enjoys the way he says her name, softly, and full of care like it’s some precious thing, like she is a precious thing. Dorothea knows the truth about herself, she knows she isn’t precious. Ferdinand should know that about her too, now that he knows about her past in as many details as she could bring herself to tell him. Yet, he still treats her like she’s something special. 

Taking in a breath, Dorothea stands up, and goes to sit next to him. The log is small, but they manage to fit. He freezes next to her, before relaxing. 

“Is this okay?” 

“I hardly think what’s proper matters now.” Ferdinand responds after a moment. 

Dorothea lets out a laugh. “I hardly think any of our companions care about what is proper anyway.” 

Ferdinand hums. “I have been feeling...melancholy as of late, I do admit.” 

Dorothea nods. “Do you wish to speak about it?” 

“Would you lend me your ear?” Ferdinand asks, still so earnest. 

“I thought the offer was obvious.” 

He is silent for a moment. “I’m not used to you being so…” He sighs. “Kind to me Dorothea.” 

Dorothea’s stomach feels sick. She had felt so justified in her disdain for him before,but now the idea makes her chest tight with guilt.

“I’m so sorry Ferdie.” She says. “You were undeserving of such harsh treatment from me.” 

“There is no need to be sorry.” Ferdinand says. “I do wish to…” He pauses, and the silence is heavy. “I wish to continue to build a close bond with you, if you will allow it.” 

“Ferdie-of course that’s what I want.” 

“You said you had many things regarding myself that you had to let go of and-” Ferdinand sighs. “I do not wish to push you. I know I have been pushy in the past and-” 

The thing is, Ferdinand doesn’t get it. He can’t. The issues that Dorothea has to let go of, has nothing to do with him and everything to do with her. 

Dorothea lets out a breath. “I need you to understand that I will always have many things to let go of, and it isn’t about you Ferdie.” 

“It’s about your past then.” Ferdinand says. She really shouldn’t be so surprised by how introspective he can sometimes be anymore. 

“Yes,” She says. “But we were speaking about you.” 

“We will revisit this later, if you wish.” He tells her. “But yes-I actually desire your input on something which has been bothering me.” 

“Mine?” Dorothea asks. 

“You sound surprised.” 

Dorothea just didn’t know what type of advice Ferdinand would desire from a commoner like her. If it wasn’t about ways to improve his appearance or singing, she didn’t have much to offer. She supposed she knew quite a bit about magic, but she didn’t hold a candle to someone like Lindhardt. 

“It’s nothing.” She tells him. “I will do my best.” 

“When I was young,” Ferdinand says, “I thought that if there was ever a war-I would choose to fight, to protect the commoners. That was naive, truly. The commoners have joined this war, willingly, or unwillingly, and I feel incapable of doing much to protect any of them.” 

Dorothea nods her head. So Ferdinand wants to talk to her about his struggles in regards to his duties to the common folk. She can do that. “Edie’s plan is to make things better and easier for commoners.” 

“Yes,” Ferdinand says. “And that’s something I agree with, but me and Edelgard have discussed it, and there has to be more in place to help commoners-like free education-There still needs to be a system.” 

“Class systems divide the population though.” Dorothea says. “Is that something you want?”

“No.” Ferdinand shakes his head “But we still need leaders, but if we don’t give commoners the resources to become leaders then we just slip back into electing the nobles again-We will probably adapt into a different system perhaps, probably all of Fodlan would have something closer to the Alliance but that would still mean noble leadership. If leadership becomes open to the common people, they need to have resources to become good leaders-and that means being provided for from a young age so no one-” 

“No one ends up like me.” Dorothea finishes for him. “Free education is a start. Promoting it is a different story. Say education is free, but a child can work and provide for their family at age 12-many parents will be pushing their kids towards work especially if they have younger siblings in the home that also need to be clothed and fed.” 

“So we age up in the age in which people can work.” Ferdinand says, with a determination Dorothea admires. 

“That’s only half of it though. There’s illegal work, under the table work, and then there’s the fact that these families might have no other option but to send their child to work-” 

“I didn’t think of that.” Ferdinand sighs. “So-” 

“So-” Dorothea looks at him. “I don’t know. I don’t know a lot about politics like you do Ferdie.” 

“Perhaps you haven’t studied it to the extent of I, but you’re smart, and you have experience.” Ferdinand grabs her hand, and Dorothea is surprised but keeps her hand in his all the same. “Your input is valued.” He smiles. “If I can poke holes in Edelgard’s ideas, you can poke holes in mine.” 

“Are you saying-you want to hire me after the war Ferdie?” Dorothea asks, genuinely surprised. “As what-Your advisor?” 

“I-” Ferdinand looks down. Even in the firelight Dorothea is she she can see his bright blush. “My goal isn’t to have you work for me, Dorothea.” 

“Then what is it?” 

“I figure my feelings are obvious.” He says it so quietly that there is no doubt in Dorothea’s mind about what he could mean. 

Dorothea’s throat closes and she can’t speak for a moment. “Ferdie-” She manages, once she can finally bring herself to speak. 

“It’s okay if you do not feel the same way.” Ferdinand says, sounding like he means it. 

“It’s not that Ferdie.” Dorothea tells him. “I-I- Are you sure?” 

“I would not say it if I wasn’t sure.” Ferdinand tells her. She keeps her hand in his. 

“Okay.” She takes in a breath. She wants to ask why he feels this way, but that doesn’t seem fair. Ferdinand shouldn’t have to explain his feelings. 

She squeezes his hand. She still has many things to figure out but there is no mistaking how warm her heart is. “I would like to continue giving you my input on things-for hopefully what is a long time to come.” 

Ferdinand does another unexpected thing and removes his hand to put his arm around her. Dorothea is surprised by how safe she feels, but she shouldn’t be. 

“In that case-” Ferdinand says, “I will be happy to listen.” 

Ferdinand being willing to listen, and sit with her and care, well-

That means more to Dorothea than he will ever know.

-0-

End

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!
> 
> So I wanted to write something about these two for a while because I think their relationship just creates so much character development for both of them. I originally wanted this to be longer, and explore Dorothea healing from her past a bit more, and learning to trust others a bit more. Luckily in the Dorothea/Ferdinand's support chain, there's a cohesive storyline that actually does a lot of the work for me. 
> 
> Ultimately, however I am also writing a fic for my husband, and I want to work on my original novel, but I think this little piece works on it's own for now and I can always write more later if there's time! 
> 
> Either way I hope you enjoy this if you take the time to read it! 
> 
> Thanks, 
> 
> Jo


End file.
